Yesterday the 50th incarnation of one of the biggest sporting events of the year, the Super Bowl, took place. This American football finale always guarantees a few things: an over the top half-time show, lots and lots of TV ads and, oh, yeah, the occasional bit of football gets played too.
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched television broadcasts in America and attracts plenty of viewers from other countries too. Consequently, lots of car manufacturers tend to pull out all the stops to get one of the hotly-contested Super Bowl advert slots and deliver something new and memorable to promote their products.
While a lot of car manufacturers rely heavily on celebrity endorsements, some brands will go down a different route, potentially leading to something even more compelling.
Here we round up the most memorable car adverts that were shown during the 2016 Super Bowl.
The sound of the NSX cameos in Honda ad
Unlike most Super Bowl ads, Honda (which is named Acura in the US) decided this year to make an advert that doesn’t feature a celebrity cameo or even reference any. Instead, the carmaker has gone for something that focuses on intense sounds and trippy computer graphic effects to promote its new NSX hybrid sports car, on sale later this year.
The brief preview we get of what the new NSX sounds like when its 3.5-litre petrol V6 is revved does seem promising.
Star-studded MINI ad says ‘Defy Labels’
MINI’s advert for this year’s Super Bowl centres on a campaign to ‘Defy Labels’ and features many celebrities along with many of the current models in MINI’s line-up.
Essentially what happens is that the various celebrities (which include Serena Williams, Tony Hawk and Harvey Keitel) say some of the things MINI cars have been called negatively in the past. The point being made is that these labels don’t matter and MINI, like the rest of us, can defy stereotypes.
Audi’s space-themed R8 ad tugs at the nostalgic heartstrings
Arguably the Super Bowl car ad that won the most fans this year came from Audi which has promoted its newest R8 supercar.
The ad portrays a retired astronaut who is seemingly bored of life until his son lets him take a new R8 for a spin. Cue some exciting driving shots and flashbacks to the former astronaut’s heydays while ‘Starman’ by the late David Bowie plays in the background.
It’s a touching little tribute not just to Audi’s supercar but also the iconic musician Bowie just a month after his passing.
Christopher Walken compares the Kia Optima to wacky socks
In unquestionably one of the stranger ads this year, an unassuming man goes looking for his beige socks by entering a ‘Walken’ wardrobe (instead of walk in, geddit?). Here he encounters the iconic actor Christopher Walken who explains how the chap can make his uninspired and boring life far more exciting with the aid of a Kia Optima.
If you’ve ever wanted to see Christopher Walken promote a car in his trademark unorthodox delivery and with the aid of a sock puppet, then this is the advert for you. Also, you have strangely specific demands.
Hyundai fills a neighbourhood with Ryan Reynolds clones
No, you didn’t misread that subheading. During this year’s Super Bowl, Hyundai booked not one but four advert slots to promote cars including the Elantra and Genesis saloons.
Probably the most peculiar of Hyundai’s four ads is the one featuring two women in an Elantra driving through the fictional neighbourhood of ‘Ryanville’. Here the drivers are constantly distracted by the numerous clones of actor Ryan Reynolds which populate the area.
The women nearly crash into one Ryan after being distracted too long by another Ryan but fortunately for them, the pedestrian-sensing Automatic Emergency Braking spares them all from disaster.
There are a few things that are particularly surprising about this ad. One is that it was even thought up in the first place, two that it implies women get too distracted by good-looking actors to drive properly and three a chance to put one of the Ryan Reynolds in a Deadpool costume was missed.
